Mandate Read Free Page B

throw?”
    “Toyo. He was objecting to my wanting to remain on active duty as an analyst while I am pregnant.”
    “Oh, when was that?” Wren sat next to the pilot’s seat and strapped in.
    “Two days ago. I am only four weeks along. Since you are here and ready to keep me company, I am guessing that someone got worried.”
    Wren smiled and did not tell Beryl that she had been in the works for two months. It was a conversation to be had when they were not flying over a city with a vulnerable population beneath them.
    Once they were over water, Beryl turned to her. “So, how precisely are you going to control me?”
    Wren chuckled. “That isn’t my mandate. I am here to protect and keep you healthy and safe. I have been given the skills I needed and trained in the ones I lacked. I know about your supplements and will keep you up and running with minimal interruption when you work. I am here for you. I am your caretaker.”
    Beryl let go of the controls and leaned over to hug Wren. Absently, Wren kept the controls aimed straight and their heading toward an island in the center of the bay.
    Wren hugged the other woman awkwardly and smiled when she quickly brushed her cheeks and resumed control of the skimmer.
    “The guys were threatening to have one of them stay with me, and I think the guilt would have been devastating.”
    “I am here so that they can continue with their duties and so that you can live with as little stress as possible. That is my duty.” Wren smiled.
    They landed smoothly on the flat pad next to the large building with the new addition.
    “They just built that last week. The contractors were in and out under guard every day and I still nearly broke one in two. I don’t know how I am going to stand eight more months of this.”
    Wren put her arm around Beryl and rubbed a small spot under her shoulders. The woman immediately sighed and relaxed, visibly. “I know that it will be difficult, but I will be here to help in whatever way you need. For now, let me make some cookies that will suit your current cravings and get dinner started.”
    “Are you an angel?”
    Wren smiled and ushered her inside. “I am just trying to make myself useful.”
     
    Three months earlier, baking cookies using alien ingredients would have freaked her out, but now, Wren got the baking underway while Beryl went to freshen up.
    She came back smirking. “They used Drovin as your blood donor. I wonder how that will go over?”
    “They said that our lines were compatible but that they had subdued the mating response. In theory, he should recognize me as a sibling, as mating would be pointless. I am sterile.” Wren smiled as she finished the meal prep and slid it into the roaster.
    “What?”
    “Childhood injury.”
    “That is horrible.”
    “That is nature. I take my nurturing out on others.” Wren laughed. “It is fine. If Drovin makes any moves, I will set him straight. There is no point.”
    “It doesn’t really work that way, Wren. You will see.” Beryl inhaled deeply and smiled. “Those smell amazing. What is in them?”
    “Eat them and you tell me.”
    Her mind counted down, and she pulled the cookies from the baking oven. The pan was displaying dozens of golden-brown crisps with a tantalizing darker brown edge.
    She scraped them onto a platter and put a defensive barrier between them and Beryl while she loaded the dishes in the washer.
    The glass of cold, tart juice was on the counter next to Beryl in a moment and the barrier came away from the cookies. “Go nuts.”
    Beryl dove for the platter and was groaning with delight as she ate one after another of the little treats.
    Wren smiled and prepared a platter of vegetables and sandwiches to store in the cooler. Half an hour after Beryl had destroyed the cookies, the second batch was in a container and the Guardians were landing on the pad outside.
    Four grimy men staggered into the base, and Beryl ran to the one with the scarlet hair, kissing him